Thursday, 29 October 2009

Genua had once controlled the river mouth and taxed its traffic in a way that couldn't be called piracy because it was done by the city government. -- Local-body politics explained (Terry Pratchett, Witches Abroad)

A curious afternoon, I was busy scouting a Freighter run into lowsec with POS fuel whilst keeping an eye on the local Intel channels, news of a POS coming out of reinforced soon got my attention.

I started trying to get as much Intel from the small group already assembled, they were going to drop dreadnoughts on the POS when it came out of reinforced and asked if I'd like to come and play, it was lightly armed with the majority of defences already downed.

Freighter safely in and out of Gusandall I decided to give it a shot, gave Keira a call, told her to get into the Archon and I got into a POS shooting Armageddon.

Turns out all attempts to contact the POS holding corp to offer terms of a ransom were met with silence so "Grand Theft Mobile Lab" was the order of the day. Three dreadnoughts were assembled, a Moros, a Naglfar and a Revelation, together with the NovaKane flagship Archon, the ArKane™, it was quite a site for someone who spends most of their time in a Rifter.

A cyno was lit just off a station and the caps jumped in with little fanfare, we docked up and waited the fifteen or so minutes before the POS was shootable again. I had in this time gotten into system with the Geddon and waited patiently.

The time came, we all undocked, my Geddon warping in first, closely followed by Keira's carrier.The two remaining sentry guns took a liking to my Geddon and I had to warp out as Keira couldn't get the remote repairer on me quick enough, the Geddon sporting only a Damage Control as its tank not up to the task of tanking sentry fire on its own. By this time the three dreads had arrived and gone into siege. I warped back in, Keira dropped a large flight of Bouncer IIs and I took place just beneath her, dropped a flight of Bouncer Is and set my Mega Pulse IIs to work.

Keira's perspective:

The view from my Geddon:

The shot itself was very uneventful, no defence fleet and only the two online sentries taking a fancy to my Geddon. It went down without much fanfare and the labs and assorted mods were unanchored and scooped.

The CONCORD generated killmail was curious in that the third Dreadnought didn't appear on it, so here is the correct killmail as it should have been:

Wednesday, 28 October 2009

Look, that's why there's rules, understand? So that you think before you break 'em.

-- (Terry Pratchett, Thief of Time)

Wensley of Rifter Drifter fame made an interesting Blog post in which my name was mentioned. So I thought I'd take the time and expand on what is a very simple yet effective approach to PvP in the EVE universe.

Wensley said:

The Kane Rizzel approach: Fit to win. Pretty much exactly what it says on the tin, really. Fit your ship to make it perform as well as possible. Buy the absolute best that you can. There are lots of videos of people flying like this for example Mezzik’s -10 and Alex Mevedov’s Flight of the Jaguar.

Yes, it is exactly what it says on the tin. Fitting your ship correctly to your style is one of the key things in any PvP engagement, there are a fair few others but I won't expand on them just yet.

We'll concentrate on the Rifter for this article, as it's the most versatile frigate with regards to fitting and can be run in any number of ways depending on your style and won't cost you an arm and a leg.

Now I'll be using my skill set as the base. No Implants. I'll be using images from EVE Fitting Tool aka EFT. (Disclaimer: EFT is a great tool but don't believe the DPS numbers, they only give you the absolute best you could achieve in optimal conditions but as with everything, theory is not the same as the real thing and very rarely if ever will a target be sitting dead still with zero resists, I use EFT mainly to see if what I have in mind will fit)

Here's Wensley's favourite Rifter:

Now it's a very Tanky version of the Rifter and also relies on range, something the Rifter is more than capable of dictating. Being able to deal damage at 10km is awesome and takes quite a bit of flying to pull it off.

Now there's my favourite, I'll take this against any other Rifter, I'm supremely comfortable with it, having flown it without the rigs for the better part of 3 years.

You''ll notice the lows are similar except for one mod, a Damage Control. Wensley's fit is what I would consider to be the current cookie cutter fit for the Rifter and it is very good but it doesn't suit my style, so I stick a Gyrostabiliser in for that extra bit of damage.

The mids are exactly the same except Wensley uses named mods, I prefer T2 mods just because they are cheaper than best named but give me a slight performance edge over lower meta named items (and I have massive stockpile of the bloody stuff).

Now I will say one thing, t2 guns are probably the most important aspect of a Rifter for two reasons, #1 Barrage, oh how I love thee, you give me sexy range and #2 the extra damage bonus even when using t1 or faction ammo. T1 and named guns will do you for a spell but get the skills for t2 guns as soon as you can, they make such a difference.

The NOS/Neut/Rocket utility high is a question of style and also dependent on the rest of your fit. In my humble opinion: NOS if you're relying on out tanking your opponent with an active tank, Neut if you're looking to mess with overtanked setups and Rockets if like me you just like as much ordinance flying out towards your opponent as possible.

You'll notice by the ammo the different styles with regards to fitting and this is another important aspect of PvP, know your ship, know your ammo and above all know your opponents ship and capabilities (knowing cookie cutter set-ups is a good way to determine this as many people rely on tried and tested fittings, they'll also tend to try and engage at their ideal range which makes your own ammo choice important)

Experiment, try different things, the Rifter as Wensley said in his Blog runs between 6million ISK and 13million ISK, now that is not a lot of ISK (It was when I started playing mind you) but you need to be comfortable with your fit, you need to know its capabilities and you only learn this by actually flying the ship.

This is true for any ship in the game and my philosophy with regards to the Rifter extends to everything else I do and fly, that includes my implants.

A great Blog post by Wensley and definitely gives one pause for thought, also, I'm very flattered to have been mentioned like that :P

In other news

Last night saw the first ever NovaKane EVE meet in London. Walter Tull, my corpmate was over from the States and we got together for drinks and dinner, a good night. (Walter is pretty much inactive as he's an alt of a friend from my old corp but I keep the character in NovaKane as a tribute)

I have been scarce as of late due to Real Life™ commitments, work has been hectic. I will however be taking an extended break next month as I go to South Africa to visit family. Apologies to my regular readers, both of you ;) for the lack of updates and fantastic stories of Piracy.

I will be back however, here and there, December will see very little of me as the silly season gets under way, work will be flat out but the new year will bring some new things for me and NovaKane in EVE.

Saturday, 17 October 2009

Until an unfortunate axe incident, Gloria had been captain of the school basketball team.

-- (Terry Pratchett, Soul Music)

Sometimes ego is a good thing and others it's a downward spiral.

Last night Kenny was doing some stuff with the POS when he reported a Stabber Fleet Issue on scan in Gusandall, I quickly boarded what I thought would be appropriate for such prey, an Ishkur.

This particular Ishkur has been with me for a very long time, a veteran of some truly spectacular fights such as this and this. I was confident in my abilities and quickly warped to the Eifer gate, where Kenny had just reported the Stabber jumping through. I activated the gate and was launched into Eifer.

Once there, I spotted the Stabber decloaking, I broke my own jump cloak and moved towards it, initiated targeting systems and watched the Fleet Stabber warp to a cluster of belts. I followed to the planet at the centre of the cluster and quickly narrowed the Stabber down, I warped into belt 4-4.

The Stabber was a good 40 clicks off the centre of the belt, I had quite a distance to close and this was my downfall. I hit the afterburners, they glowed bright, the distance slowly closing, I activated targeting systems and the Stabber did the same, he deployed a flight of Warrior IIs, the Stabber's guns hitting me quite hard. My little Ishkur was not up to this and my ego landed me in my escape pod. I warped out rather quickly and shared a "good fight" in local but in truth it wasn't a good fight, I bit off more than I could chew and choked.

C'est la vie

An expensive loss and maybe the humility will temper my ego somewhat... We can only hope :D

I should know better, piloting the Stabber Fleet Issue myself to great effect and know full well its capabilities.

Sunday, 11 October 2009

Nanny could get a statue to cry on her shoulder and say what it really thought about pigeons.

-- (Terry Pratchett, Maskerade)

"Battlecruiser heavy gang in Eifer"

"I see them, looks like the Brutix is baiting in belt 1-1"

With these words was sprung in motion a very fun fight. Sarvic was in Eifer in his Myrmidon, I was in a Rifter, I had warped above belt 1-1 for a little looksie and got on voice comms with the Mean crew.

"I'm heading back to Gus for something more robust" I said as I whipped the Rifter around towards the Gus gate. Sarvic had decided to do the same.

Back in Eifer in Nanny Ogg, it looked like we had missed the opportunity for a fight as we lost track of the gang when they jumped out. xastrosrulex in his Pilgrim went first to Ingunn and then to Sotrenzur trying to get eyes on them.

"They're in Sot"

"Everyone get on the Sot gate" said Sarvic.

Everyone included me in Nanny Ogg, Sarvic in a Typhoon, Emil Obi in a Dominix and Evil's Fink in a Harbinger.

The hostiles were ten strong, two Brutix, two Drake, a Hurricane, a Harbinger, two Tristan, a Punisher and a Manticore.

Astros had eyes on them waiting on the Gus gate in Sot, his Pilgrim would not be able to withstand a fight under sentry fire and we needed to decide if we would take the chance. Sarvic just grinned and said "Fuckit, jump and engage"

Primary was a Brutix, it dropped rather quickly, secondary Brutix started getting eaten as I set my Warrior IIs to work on the frigates.

"Sarvic going down"

Not exactly what you want to hear when outnumbered.

"Sarvic down, I'll be right back"

Emil, Fink and me carried on regardless, I took over target calling, this was a fight to the death, no retreat, no surrender.

Second Brutix down, I call the Hurricane primary, Harbinger secondary, we needed to clear the DPS. Hurricane down, I switch to the Harbinger, Mega Pulse II lasers sending hot laser love into its armor, it warps out. I change to short range crystals and focus fire on the closest Drake, Its shields hardly bothered by me, Harbinger comes back in, Fink goes down. The first Drake takes a while to go down and it pops as Sarvic rejoins us in a Maelstrom. Second Drake goes from Primary to secondary as I switch target to the Harbinger, not much left of the Harbinger when it warped back in. Second Drake is now Primary, it goes down hard, much quicker than the first. The Punisher and two Tristans were downed by drones and it was only the Manticore who managed to survive by staying out of disruptor range and warping out when drones were set on him.

I'm out of cap boosters, my Mega Pulse IIs are hungry beasts, overheated almost to the point of melting but Nanny Ogg stands imperiously over the battlefield, littered with wrecks.

Nanny Ogg's armour is deep in the red, 33% left, 12 of my 15 drones fell to sentry fire, but damn what a rush.

I head back to Gus to inspect the damage as the loot is collected.

"That'll be 15million ISK for repairs"

"HOW MUCH?"

My guns are damaged, almost beyond repair, the armour is almost stripped away but luckily Sarvic and Emil offer to repair my ship for no charge, the station prices too criminal to even think about paying. Thanks guys.

Props to our opponents for a stand up fight. Props to Sarv, Emil and Fink for going along with this seemingly suicidal engagement and props to Nanny Ogg for topping all the killmails.

A little side project of the Rizzel family went online in the early hours of this morning. The Mended Drum took a little over 6 hours to get set up with mods and guns but I can finally scratch POS setup and management off my list of things to do. It took forever and I'm not even sure if the load out is right but damn if it wasn't a little bit exciting and nerve racking.

Keira brought the NovaKane flagship out for the christening. Of course I had to be there in a Rifter :D

This may or may not be a permanent fixture, depending on the cost and time involved with running it, however I like a challenge and this sure is one.

Friday, 2 October 2009

[...] Vimes's grin was as funny as the one that moves very fast towards drowning men. And has a fin on top.

-- (Terry Pratchett, Jingo)

Imagine you're a Covetor, serenely mining away, the gentle hum of the mining lasers gently soothing your mind as you do whatever it is you do.

It's a nice system, the star is bright, there's plenty of belts and the asteroids are fat and juicy, just waiting to be ravaged by your mighty mining vessel. It's kind of like Prom night, sheer excitement coursing through your veins.

But you are not alone, you have a friend, in a hauler, waiting in anticipation of filling his hold with space rocks. You chat and laugh as you go about your business.

Life is good.

Or is it?

Local spikes, it seems you have visitors.

You start to align the mining barge to the safety of a high security system jump gate, you are no fool, it takes a while as you are not the most nimble of starships. Flashy red ships appear on your overview but it's going to be ok, you are in warp.

Rifter pilot is pleased with himself, a hauler for free with whatever treasure it holds, unfortunately for him he does not have the skills to fly it so he enlists the help of a friend to help secret the treasure away.

You have returned to the system, the Rifter still there, you'll show him, he'll learn not to pick on the seemingly defenceless. You uncloak in a shiny Nemesis stealth bomber, the Rifter is going to get an ass-kicking he'll not soon forget.

The Rifter however, instead of turning tail and bailing at the sight of your mighty stealth bomber, heads directly at you, seemingly on a suicide mission. Does he not realise this is a tech 2 vessel? Fitted with some very dangerous sharp bits to cause destruction. Is he mad? He must be mad.

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